Tipsheet: Amazon’s Auto Plan | JCP Exec Out | Drone Crash | WM Shooting
Gap’s newest ad campaign attempts to clarify its identity ahead of the Old Navy spinoff at CNBC. “A 7-year-old blind pianist and 13-year-old electric-guitar player, rocking out to “Sweet Child O’ Mine” are the stars of Gap’s newest ad campaign. The videos, which rolled out last week on Gap’s social media channels, are also a step to focus Gap’s identity…” Read more
J.C. Penney’s top executive over stores and supply chain leaves abruptly as replacement hired by Maria Halkias at Dallas Morning News. “Michael Robbins…is leaving J.C. Penney effective Saturday., and his replacement worked in the past with CEO Jill Soltau at the now-defunct Shopko Stores. Jim DePaul has been hired to be executive vice president of stores. He has 25 years of experience, most recently as Shopko’s chief operations officer over stores, supply chain and e-commerce.” Tiered subs.
Drone crash near kids leads Swiss Post to suspend autonomous deliveries at TechCrunch. “…led to the drone attempting to deploy its parachute again, only to sever the line somehow and plummet to earth, crashing into the ground some 150 feet from a bunch of kindergartners.” Read more
Getting under the hood of Amazon’s auto ambitions at Reuters.”…the strategy is aimed at leveraging Amazon’s strengths in logistics, cloud computing and digital services together with new interests in related fields from robotics to manufacturing, according to more than two dozen people, including Amazon executives and industry executives familiar with the strategy, and a Reuters analysis of Amazon’s patent activity.” Read more
Sears retirees’ life insurance payouts could be just $135 each at Crain’s Chicago Business. Read more
Amazon’s new personal styling service will tell you what to wear — for a price by Monica Nickelsburg at GeekWire. “On Tuesday, Amazon rolled out Personal Shopper by Prime Wardrobe, a service that tells you what to wear, for a fee…For $4.99 per month, customers receive recommendations for clothes and accessories curated by personal shoppers at Amazon.” Read more
A drone made a successful commercial delivery in The Bahamas for the first time last month traveling more than 50 miles over land and water in 28 minutes. at Fox 5 NY. Read more
2 Mississippi Walmart employees shot dead at store, suspended co-worker charged with murder at ABC News. Video/Read more
High-End Diapers Test How Much More Mom and Dad Will Pay by Sharon Terlep at Wall Street Journal. “Kimberly-Clark’s Mr. Hsu said there is room in the U.S. market for more expensive diapers. A private-label diaper costs about 11 cents, while the most expensive offering until recently was around 35 cents a diaper, he said. Huggies’ new Special Delivery line goes for 55 cents apiece.” WSJ subs.
The Container Store Group Q1 comp sales +7.8%, with Custom Closets up 11.1%, contributing 500 basis points of the comp sales increase Press release
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A Seattle woman who is charged in Capital One breach is reportedly a former Amazon Web Services systems engineer at USA Today. Read more
Grubhub CEO calls out delivery rivals for price gouging at Forbes. “For now, customers seem to swallow the service fees in favor of the “novelty” of delivery, Maloney contends, but he argues that is likely to change when customers “wisen up” to the difference in cost structures between companies.” Read more
Gap’s Athleta brand lands its first sponsored athlete: Olympic track champion Allyson Felix at CNBC. Read more
Costco rolls out digital membership cards on its mobile app – however, the digital card can’t be used at Costco gas pumps at Business Insider. Read more
Lowe’s opens massive central Pa. distribution center at Penn Live. Read more
Walmart, Target, Ikea sued by UC Santa Barbara over Edison-style LED bulbs at Bloomberg via The OCR. “UC Santa Barbara says the retailers should be paying it royalties from sales of the bulbs. Bed Bath & Beyond and Ikea also were named in the complaint filed Tuesday.” Read more
Tim Cook confirms Apple Card is rolling out next month at TechCrunch. Read more
Tipsheet Extra Stories
Kroger announces new Nashville Division President
Police find body of Indian coffee shop chain owner in river
Millenials, Gen Z say they can’t afford love
Cardi B calls off Indy gig at last minute, citing ‘security threat’
Woman sues for $1M after mistaking glass window for open doorway at Kroger
Woman accused of urinating on potatoes in Walmart
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